Digger

Deserving credit for an audaciously original big swing, Digger nevertheless winds up as a head-scratching whiff.

Despite some exquisite craftsmanship and a fully committed performance by Tom Cruise, this wild science-fiction satire from Mexican auteur Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant) tries to make so many different points that it winds up saying nothing at all.

With a manic Dr. Strangelove vibe, the film provides some scattered big laughs while acerbically skewering capitalism, corporate greed, partisan politics, fossil fuels, the broken world financial system, and climate change denialism. However, visual and narrative quirks tend to overwhelm any meaningful substance.

Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an obscenely wealthy oil tycoon with a domineering personality who basically runs the world from his mansion, in his pajamas, cuddling with his dying cat — whose health is more important than any of his employees.

In terms of contemporary real-world parallels, you can draw your own conclusions. But he surrounds himself with sycophants and intimidates anyone who dares to contradict his viewpoint, as uninformed as it may be. Along with his protracted stomach, obnoxious combover, and pasty white skin — as opposed to, say, orange — Digger’s charisma comes with a callous lack of self-awareness.

After ignoring numerous warnings, he’s notified of an explosion at his company’s drilling site in Greenland, which not only kills some workers but sends a gigantic iceberg hurtling toward Europe, destined to cause widespread damage.

The ensuing panic forces Digger to deal with the conflicting opinions and priorities, of among others, his sister (Sandra Huller), a beleaguered environmental adviser (Riz Ahmed), and the severely unstable president (John Goodman) and his cabinet.

Then a series of surreal twists gives him a path to sympathy, as nobody turns out to be quite who we thought they were and a different type of disaster looms.

Beneath the intense physical transformation, Cruise plays Digger with pompous, narcissistic glee — a deliberate and definitive change of pace from his usual action-hero persona that’s sure to polarize his fans.

The film is visually stylish and technically proficient, deploying a desaturated color palette to maintain a sense of mystery around the exact setting.

Rather than resonating with topicality, the intricately constructed screenplay maintains a chilly emotional distance before detouring into a muddled, self-reflexive examination of the ethical boundaries of satire itself.

Captivating yet confounding, Digger is provocative more in concept than execution, ultimately pulling the rug out from under itself.

Rated R, 128 minutes.